The Most Important Fight
Or, at least, the one Ashcroft thinks is most important. This has been all around the blogosphere already, but I think Andrew Sullivan had the best quote on this:
This, one recalls, is the battle John Ashcroft was really hoping to wage. Terrorists are one thing, but porn-consumers – now there’s a real threat. With the Justice Department having nothing better to do, like catch Jihadists, it’s very important that they keep a fierce and unrelenting eye on adults enjoying themselves in the privacy of their own homes. Hey, they can’t even arrest homos any more. You’ve got to give the feds something important to do. Now, excuse me while I surf the, er, web.
Personally, I’m not much of a porn-enthusiast, but this is certainly way over the line. Ashcroft is trying to prosecute material viewed by consenting adults in their own homes…material containing the activities of other consenting adults, at that. Going after child-porn is one thing, and should be done, but this is a completely different ball park, hell, it’s not even the same goddamn game. It used to be that Republicans paid lip-service to the hard-right and enacted the policies of the moderate conservatives, now the tide seems to move in precisely the opposite direction. I’ve been a defender of Bush on all sorts of issues, but this has officially made me “undecided” in this race. Yeah, I know about Kerry’s tax proposals, but a Republican controlled congress won’t let any of that pass. Yeah, his ideas about trade are bollocks, but the Republicans will do the opposite out of partisan rage. The only real issue left is the war…and we’ll have to see how that debate shapes-up over the course of the elections cycle. Dear Republicans, THIS BULLSHIT IS LOSING YOU SUPPORT! STOP! NOW!
